


Fortune Favors the Brave

by ThoseDaysThatWill



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Offseason Shenanigans, Winnipeg Jets, emotionally repressed idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 18:21:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19183213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThoseDaysThatWill/pseuds/ThoseDaysThatWill
Summary: “I want to go somewhere.” Nate was sprawled out on a deckchair that had a view of absolutely nothing except Jack’s ass. He was facing the grill at the moment, which is the only reason Nate could admire the view. Otherwise, all that was around to look at were trees, and not even impressive trees. Pine trees. There wasn’t a beach or even a pool, just trees and the swing set in his neighbor’s backyard.Jack glanced over to him, “You are somewhere.”Nate scoffed, “No, I’m not. I’ve seen here, it’s not anywhere.”





	Fortune Favors the Brave

**Author's Note:**

> This is set sometime in early June 2019, in Columbus, Ohio.
> 
> Katie said it had to be 2,255 words, so it is.

“I want to go somewhere.” Nate was sprawled out on a deckchair that had a view of absolutely nothing except Jack’s ass. He was facing the grill at the moment, which is the only reason Nate could admire the view. Otherwise, all that was around to look at were trees, and not even impressive trees. _Pine_ trees. There wasn’t a beach or even a pool, just trees and the swing set in his neighbor’s backyard.

Jack glanced over to him, “You _are_ somewhere.”

Nate scoffed, “No, I’m not. I’ve seen here, it’s not anywhere.”

“No one asked you to come here.” Jack pointed out, his voice taking on an insulted edge. There was only so far one could insult Ohio before Jack took offence, and Nate learned that the hard way. “You don’t have to be here, if you don’t want to.”

Nate didn’t reply. He honestly didn’t know why he got on a plane less than a month after the season had ended. When they’d parted ways in Winnipeg, Jack had made a point to tell him he was going home and that’s where he’d be all summer. Of course, Nate had noticed, but he hadn’t thought for a moment that he’d do anything with that information. He wasn’t the type to go anywhere for anyone, but least of all a landlocked state in the middle of literally nowhere. And yet he found himself in a vaguely familiar airport at fuck o’clock in the morning, demanding over the phone to a very groggy Jack that he needed to be picked up.

Jack was just as surprised to see him as Nate was to be there, but after they fucked in the airport bathroom, they both stopped questioning it and decided to just enjoy it. Jack took him to a couple clubs that weren’t all that impressive, but the place didn’t matter because Jack got tipsy off one beer and absolutely smashed off two shots. And drunk Jack was more than enough fun to cancel out what would have been a very dull club. Over the span of two days, they’d also managed to fuck in every room in his condo. So, by this point, Nate really did feel as if he’d seen all that Columbus had to offer.

Nate looked up at him, “You want me to go?”

Jack quickly shook his head. He must have realized exactly _how_ quickly he shook it because he added with a shrug, “I just don’t know _why_ you’re here.”

Nate snorted, “I was horny.”

Jack rolled his eyes and turned back to the grill, “Your buddy wasn’t a good enough time?” There was a note of something in his voice that Nate couldn’t, or didn’t want to, place.

Nate furrowed his brows, “Which buddy?”

He could see Jack’s shoulders tense and then drop back down, but he didn’t turn around. “You visit a lot of them? You don’t post pictures of all of their families.” Nate could hear that he was trying to keep his tone casual and was failing miserably.

“I didn’t post—You mean Zach?” Nate laughed, “He wanted to hear about Winnipeg.” He didn’t know why he felt the need to justify the visit to Jack. He hadn’t thought anything about posting a picture of Zach’s baby, because he thought the weird sack thing that he hung the kid up in was funny. It had only been in his Story and hadn’t been there for long. He was barely on social media anyway. A thought struck him, and he looked at Jack curiously, “You don’t even follow my Instagram.”

Jack shrugged, “I don’t go on it much.”

“Then how did you know?” He asked.

Jack shrugged again, his eyes glued to the grill and the steaks in front of him, “You want this rare or medium rare?”

Nate just watched his back for a moment before he hauled himself out of the lounge chair, stretching his shoulders. “You were checking up on me.” He was surprised at just how much he liked the idea. Nate felt him startle when he put his hands on his hips, but Jack didn’t squeak and for that he was disappointed. He slid his arms around him, pressing against his back, resting his hands on his bare stomach, appreciative of how low he wore his shorts. He placed a light kiss on the side of his neck, “Admit it.”

A very soft whimper escaped Jack’s control, but he quickly regained his senses. “Just making sure you weren’t getting arrested again.”

“When did I—you know about _that?_ ” Nate kept his arms wrapped tight around him, and he couldn’t help the smile when he felt Jack relax back against him.

He shrugged for what might have been the tenth time in that conversation, keeping his tone faux casual, “It’s on your Wiki page.”

Nate laughed quietly beside his ear, “You read my Wiki page?”

Jack scoffed, “When you were traded in. I read all of the new guys’ pages. You’re not that special.”

“Yes, I am.” He pressed another kiss to his neck, just behind his ear, where he knew he could make him shiver. He was not disappointed with the results. “You’re a bad liar.”

Jack gave a short laugh, “No, I’m _great_ liar, one of the best. You just don’t _need_ me to lie to you. Most guys need to hear a lie or two when they jump into bed with a guy the first night they take them out. But I didn’t need to work too hard to seduce you because you were ready to go the minute you got here.”

 “You weren’t hard to talk into bed either.” Nate pointed out.

Jack tossed a grin over his shoulder, “That’s because I’m a slut, what’s your excuse?”

Nate dropped his voice, whispering his reply in Jack’s ear, “I read you the minute I met you.” That may or may not have been a lie, but it didn’t matter. “You’ve got that look that says you’re the kind of guy that wants-- no, _needs_ to be shoved against a wall and _taken hard._ And even if it was too much, and it would be, you’d still _beg_ for more. And I’m the kind of guy that could do that for you.”

Jack groaned at that, letting his head fall back, “Okay, I’m gonna need you to fuck me right now.”

Nate laughed at that, “That’s my slut.”

“ _Your_ slut?”

Nate paused for just a second, taking in a breath to calm himself down. He hadn’t meant to say that, of course, it just came out in the moment. But the truth was, it didn’t bother him either. He had spent whole entire _minutes_ thinking about that very idea on the plane ride down but had come to exactly no conclusion. And honestly, he liked it that way. He shrugged, “I didn’t come to Columbus because I secretly want to be a Blue Jacket.”

“And you couldn’t lie and say you were ‘in the neighborhood’ because London is like a five-hour drive from here,” Jack added without thinking.

Nate barked out a sudden laugh at that, “You looked it up.”

Jack took a step away, shrugging out of his arms, shaking his head to clear it. “Maybe.” He put his focus on flipping the steaks, though the job didn’t take as much concentration as he was giving it, nor could the heat of the grill account for the blush in his cheeks.

“I was flying out of New York anyway.” Nate wandered back to his lounge chair. He took in a few deep breaths, to remind the rest of his body that it needed to cool down. He didn’t feel the need or desire to mention that after the fifth time he’d said Jack’s name in one conversation, Zach had _ordered_ him to fly to Columbus. He hadn’t intended to obey, but nevertheless found himself in the airport a day later.

“Y’know…” Jack kept his back to him, which Nate knew was the only way he could keep himself calmed down, “When we traded your boy to the Sabres, we got a bunch of players and a draft pick.” He paused, but Nate had no idea where he was going with that, so he said nothing. “The draft pick was _me_ , and one of the guys was Brendan.”

Nate snorted, “Lucky for you. If not for Zach, you and your boy coulda been stuck in Buffalo together. With me.” The idea made him wonder if he would have still asked for that trade.

Jack glanced back at him, “I’d kill to see you and Brendan on the same team.”

“Would we have hated each other or fucked each other?” Nate smirked.

Jack laughed, “ _Both_.” His eyes traveled over Nate for a moment and then widened, as if an idea had just struck him.

Reading his mind, Nate offered, “I’m not against threesomes.”

“ _Fuck_.” Jack flipped the steaks onto the plate and turned the grill off but didn’t look at him for a long moment. Finally, he turned around, “He wants me to come see him.” He offered, with too much off-handedness for him not to have been thinking about that all day.

Nate laughed, “I don’t think he was planning on you bringing a friend.”

Jack wander over to Nate’s chair, too casually to be casual. He shoved Nate’s legs to the side and sat down. “Yeah, but I told him I didn’t know when I could get out there… because I was going to go see you.”

If he had pointed out that Nate’s eyes widened for a second, he would have denied it, but it happened, right alongside a quickly widening smile, “Yeah?”

“Why the fuck do you think I looked it up?” Jack rolled his eyes, “Don’t look so smug. At least I could wait more than two weeks before I showed up. Unlike your horny ass.”

Nate scoffed. “C’mere.” He watched Jack’s expression change from ‘no’ to ‘okay’ in the course of a few seconds and couldn’t help the smirk when Jack moved to brace himself over him.

Nate wrapped his arms tightly around him, sliding his hands over the sun-warmed skin of his back. That moment wasn’t about anything more than being able to touch him as he pleased. Jack leaned in closer, wound his hands in Nate’s hair, and pulled. Nate didn’t bother to hide the moan that caused or the way it made his eyes roll back and his brain short circuit. He murmured softly, “ _Fuck_.”

Jack laughed, but the sound was strained. He moved closer to kiss him, his hands still tugging at Nate’s hair. Though it started light, it was mere seconds before he was ramping it up with the clear aim to rid both of them of any ability to think or speak. The kiss went on for what felt like hours, but in reality, wasn’t nearly long enough.

Jack pulled away first, sitting up just a little, straddling his lap. Nate took his time opening his eyes and found Jack staring at him, with _that_ smirk on his lips. “You’re catching feelings,” he said. It wasn’t a question, but it wasn’t exactly an accusation either. There was something in his voice that Nate couldn’t quite define, but whatever it was went along perfectly with his smirk.

Nate just looked at him for a moment. First, he was trying to process the fact that the sounds he was making were actual words, and then second, he was trying to decide whether he should lie or tell the truth. Finally, he shrugged, “Yeah.” He’d already flown there; it was pretty pointless to try to hide things now.

Jack’s smirk grew, “ _Good_.”

Nate rolled his eyes, “The fuck does that mean?”

“It means…” Jack leaned closer, lowering his voice, “It would _suck_ if I was the only one that thought there was something here worth figuring out.” The line came out so smoothly that Nate was positive Jack had practiced it before that moment.

There was a part of Nate, somewhere tucked in the back of his mind, that wanted to hear Jack say it again, but the forefront of his mind wouldn’t give Jack the satisfaction of hearing him ask if it meant the Cup itself. Instead he returned his smirk and dragged his fingernails down Jack’s back, slowly enough that he could feel the shivers it caused and hard enough that he probably left marks on his slightly sunburned skin.

Jack’s eyes slowly closed as he leaned in, bracing himself on Nate’s shoulders, “ _Fuck me_.” He moaned, moving his hips to grind against him. “ _Now_.”

“Fuck yes, I will.” Nate couldn’t take his eyes off him as he slid his hands under the waistband of his shorts, slower than Jack would have liked, “But… you’re not going to go see him.”

Jack’s eyes snapped open and he met Nate’s for a long silent moment. Neither were the staring into each other’s eyes type, yet neither could look away, and they both knew why. A whole conversation happened in that look, a conversation that they weren’t willing or able to have in words. They had both _wanted_ to have that conversation before they left Winnipeg, but neither of them were willing to admit it, or be the one to bring it up least they get mocked for it. But there it was, completely unsaid and completely understood.

Finally, Jack nodded, “If I do, you’re coming with me.”

Nate smirked, “ _Good_.”


End file.
